Al-Bashir holds the rebels responsible for the failure of IGAD summit
Sudan, Politics, 6/5/2001

The Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has stressed that the talks held between the Sudanese government and the rebellion movement in Southern Sudan in Nairobi in the presence of IGAD's member states did not reach a result.

In a statement he made upon his return back to his country from Nairobi after a short visit during which he took part during the special IGAD's summit dedicated to the question of peace in Sudan, al-Bashir said " we did not reach a result because of the persistence of the rebels on their own conditions to separate religion from the state and linking the cease- fire in the south of Sudan to the process of halting the operation of extraction of oil."

Al- Bashir explained that the Sudanese government agreed on a complete cease- fire without preconditions, and stressed that rights and duties in Sudan are endured and that there is a freedom of religion and doctrine and that the Sudanese constitution states on equality among citizens without any discrimination and agreed on fair distribution of wealth.

He continued: "but the delegation of the rebel movement asked for conditions that cannot be met." The Sudanese President also indicated that the leader of the rebel movement escaped from several meetings arranged between him and President al-Bashir in Nairobi, Victoria and Abuja and stressed the IGAD's summit did not reach what was expected by him and other African Presidents to maintain a cease- fire in Southern Sudan because of the stubbornness of the rebel movement.

Previous Stories:
  The pan conference on Sudanese reconciliation; relation with Egypt special   (6/4/2001)
  Al-Mahdi: My next visit to the US is to underline the US role in Sudan   (6/2/2001)
  Message to president al-Assad from Sudan's president   (5/31/2001)

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